{"podcast":{"title":"The Scenic Route with Victoria Steward","slug":"the-scenic-route-with-victoria-steward-7782802","podcast_index_feed_id":7782802,"rss_url":"https://api.riverside.fm/hosting/S6ZcgSiO.rss","website_url":"www.victoria-steward.com","image_url":"https://hosting-media.riverside.com/media/podcasts/951714c0-7b4d-4675-bd36-b3bd278f8546/logos/46260bbc-d587-4fc0-b414-b393efa55bf4.png","author":"Victoria Steward","episode_count":19,"summary":"What if the detour was never a wrong turn? We get handed one map early on: the superhighway. Pick the career, hit the milestones, stay in the fast lane somebody else drew for us. And one day a lot of us look up and realize it's been heading somewhere we never actually chose. This is a show about the people who got off it. I'm Victoria Steward. I spent 20 years as a federal civilian engineer/project manager before I left on a gut feeling and started taking my own scenic route. Every week I sit down with interesting people who made a change, sometimes sudden, sometimes so gradual they almost missed it, that sent their life somewhere they never saw coming. The kind of stories that inspire you to start dreaming into your own. If you've started to wonder whether there's a different road available to you, you're in exactly the right place. ✨ New episodes every week. Subscribe so you don't miss one.","last_synced_at":"2026-07-22T22:19:55.428806+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-scenic-route-with-victoria-steward-7782802"},"episode":{"title":"What Nobody Tells Therapists About Building a Private Practice with Katie Fortunato","slug":"what-nobody-tells-therapists-about-building-a-private-practice-with-katie-fortunato","published_at":"2026-05-06T16:07:51+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-scenic-route-with-victoria-steward-7782802/what-nobody-tells-therapists-about-building-a-private-practice-with-katie-fortunato","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-scenic-route-with-victoria-steward-7782802","url":"https://api.riverside.com/hosting-analytics/media/953d3f40bc39d0b06025e480066a81e39bc950f1cf70de5a687e8681f0744026/eyJlcGlzb2RlSWQiOiJiODZjNDc1Ny03YWU2LTRhNTAtYTdhMC1iNjdhZmUzOGRmZTUiLCJwb2RjYXN0SWQiOiI5NTE3MTRjMC03YjRkLTQ2NzUtYmQzNi1iM2JkMjc4Zjg1NDYiLCJhY2NvdW50SWQiOiI2OTlmNjIyYzM1MDAxYzBlOWJlNGFlNGIiLCJwYXRoIjoibWVkaWEvY2xpcHMvNjlmYTU3OTY2MmMwY2JjYjVjNGJmMGZiL3ZpY3Rvcmlhcy1zdHVkaW8tUGhZZDAtY29tcG9zZXItMjAyNi01LTVfXzIyLTQ4LTIyLm1wMyJ9.mp3","audio_url":"https://api.riverside.com/hosting-analytics/media/953d3f40bc39d0b06025e480066a81e39bc950f1cf70de5a687e8681f0744026/eyJlcGlzb2RlSWQiOiJiODZjNDc1Ny03YWU2LTRhNTAtYTdhMC1iNjdhZmUzOGRmZTUiLCJwb2RjYXN0SWQiOiI5NTE3MTRjMC03YjRkLTQ2NzUtYmQzNi1iM2JkMjc4Zjg1NDYiLCJhY2NvdW50SWQiOiI2OTlmNjIyYzM1MDAxYzBlOWJlNGFlNGIiLCJwYXRoIjoibWVkaWEvY2xpcHMvNjlmYTU3OTY2MmMwY2JjYjVjNGJmMGZiL3ZpY3Rvcmlhcy1zdHVkaW8tUGhZZDAtY29tcG9zZXItMjAyNi01LTVfXzIyLTQ4LTIyLm1wMyJ9.mp3","summary":"What happens when you do everything the right way and still burn out? You try again. And again. Until you finally stop trying to fit yourself into someone else's blueprint. Katie Fortunato is a Licensed Professional Counselor and EMDR therapist who built her practice the way she was told to... and hit the wall every single time. School counselor. Pivot in an unplanned direction due to COVID. Air Force Academy position. Group practice. Private practice. And at every stop: burnout, because the model she was handed wasn't built for her. In this conversation, Katie and Victoria talk about what it actually takes to build something sustainable: starting with what you need (not what someone else did), figuring out your real number before you set any goals, and why the identity shift from clinician to practice owner is the part nobody warns you about. If you are a therapist thinking about private practice, this one was made for you. And if you are not a therapist but you have ever tried to build something using someone else's rules and wondered why it kept breaking, this one is for you too. CHAPTERS 00:00 Welcome and introducing Katie Fortunato 00:41 Who Katie is now: LPC, EMDR therapist, and coach for therapists 01:14 Where it started: the straight-line plan and the first detour 03:19 Five years as a school counselor: the promise vs. the bureaucracy 04:19 Selling everything in February 2020... and then COVID happened 07:17 The scenic route to private practice: Air Force Academy, group practice, and the moment she finally said yes 10:07 Knowing what you are worth and refusing to accept less 12:13 Year one of private practice: why the model she inherited nearly broke her 15:21 Her methodology: why the number has to come from your life, not from industry averages 18:27 Therapist…","meta_description":"What happens when you do everything the right way and still burn out? You try again. And again. Until you finally stop trying to fit yourself into someone…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":2369,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-scenic-route-with-victoria-steward-7782802/episodes/what-nobody-tells-therapists-about-building-a-private-practice-with-katie-fortunato/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-scenic-route-with-victoria-steward-7782802/what-nobody-tells-therapists-about-building-a-private-practice-with-katie-fortunato.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}